Philip Shetler Jones writes in with a tip about a new government panel to address peacekeeping operations (PKO): The PM’s office is establishing a panel on PKO, similar to the ‘kondankai’ set up to look at the Taiko, but including former Defense and MOFA officials. It is said to be taking account of the changes...

Here’s an idea I hadn’t heard of before, and it’s kind of brilliant. Hats off to Galrahn at Information Dissemination: If the US Navy truly believes the Carrier Strike Group is the focal point of naval power, why wouldn’t the US Navy examine the possibilities for an integrated, international option when it comes...

The guided missile destroyer JDS Kirishima is to visit Hawaii next month to participate in a Ballistic Missile Defense test. Kirishima was recently upgraded at Nagasaki with the capability to shoot down ballistic missiles. Kirishima was the fourth and last ship of the Kongo-class destroyers to be upgraded, and with her Japan now has four destroyers...

According to some Chinese scholars, in addition to the Senkakus, Okinawa too should be Chinese: More than a few Chinese scholars are beginning to claim Okinawa as Chinese land by writing numerous academic papers in Chinese journals, though they are still in a minority among historians. Xu Yong, noted professor of history at the Beijing...

So, last week me and this “conflict reporter” guy were hanging out in my backyard, shooting the breeze, and I mentioned that I thought Japan would fortify the Senkaku islands with land-based missiles. Missile, maybe in silos, I said. Something with a permanent presence. No, conflict reporter guy said, submarines. They’ll built more submarines. I...

Japan is sending 10 medical personnel to Afghanistan to teach the Afghan Army medical procedures. This is the first dispatch of Japanese military to Afghanistan in nine years of war, with the exception of military attaches at the Japanese embassy. The team would not be placed under the command of the International Security Assistance Force...

Japan wooing South Pacific island nations in its bid for a U.N. Security Council. Pacific and Japanese leaders met in Tokyo over the weekend where they reviewed Japan’s aid commitments and agreed to work closely on climate change efforts. Japan has long been a key donor in the Pacific and is keen to build support...

AFP reports on an alleged “secret pact” between the old LDP government and the People’s Republic of China: Aera magazine reported that under Japan’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled for half a century until last year, Tokyo and Beijing had made “secret promises” to each other over the territorial issue. “Under the secret promises,...

Last week Japan launched the first in a new class of destroyers. Named Akizuki, this class was formally known as 19DD and apparently an evolution of the Takanami-class destroyers. Xinhua had an article in Chinese, which Google translated. Don’t try too hard to read it, just skim. We’ll piece it all together afterwards: Comprehensive Japanese media...

Remember that MSDF Training Squadron that passed through San Francisco five months ago, the one that yours truly (see above) got to hang out on? The one that then proceeded to make a round-the-world trip? The Chinese port of Qingdao was supposed to be the second-to-last port visit. It’s been cancelled. Hanoi,...

Via Eaglespeak: On the afternoon of 10 October, the owners of the Panama-flagged MV IZUMI reported that they had received an automatically released distress signal indicating that the vessel was likely to be under pirate attack. The Danish warship HDMS ESBERN SNARE of the NATO counter piracy force was dispatched to intercept and...